Living a Rich Life; Becoming a Better Designer

About this video

In this talk, Paulina Reyes explores the importance of allowing your personal experience, relationships, individual passions, childhood memories, hobbies, journals and artistic expressions to seep into your work. It is through living stories that we become better storytellers, through unique experiences that we become aware of unique needs, through human encounters that we become better communicators and through multidisciplinary activities that original thoughts arrive. These ideas come to life as we see a selection of Reyes’ work throughout her career.

Speaker bio

A native of Mexico City, Paulina Reyes ventured to the United States more than 10 years ago, beginning her career at Laurie DeMartino Design in Minneapolis. Reyes later moved on to Duffy & Partners and then to New York, where she has lent her creative skills to several prominent companies, including Kate Spade. Since 2011, she has been a design director at Mother New York. Throughout her career, Reyes has had the opportunity to work on a wide array of projects, both as a designer and an illustrator. In 2008, she collaborated with the Nature Conservancy on “Design for a Living World,” an exhibition highlighting products made from natural resources that debuted at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. She has also created textile prints for companies such as West Elm and WHIT. Reyes’ eclectic background has earned her a variety of recognitions, including being named a Young Gun 5 by the Art Directors Club and a “Twenty Under Thirty” by Print magazine. She has taught at the School of Visual Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.